Contents

Michael Gross was born in Tiberias in the British-administered Palestine in 1920. He grew up in the farming village of Migdal. In 1939-1940, he left to study at the Teachers’ Training College in Jerusalem. In 1939, while he was away, his father was murdered by Arabs, and the family farm and home were destroyed. This event impacted on his work as an artist.[1]

Gross's works are imbued with the light and spirit. They are minimalist, but never pure abstraction, always tied to natural form and laden with feeling.[2] In his early paintings, Gross simplified form in order to concentrate on proportion, broad areas of color, and the size and placement of each element. This reductive process was also notable in his sculptures, whether in painted iron or other materials such as white concrete. In later paintings, he often juxtaposed large off-white panels with patches of tone, adding textured materials such as wooden beams, burlap and rope. Gross’s rough, freely-brushed surfaces, along with the use of soft pastel coloring, conjure up images of the Israeli landscape.[3]